Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-04-29
WOMAN AS AN AUTHOR.


portion to the elevation of the race. In
primitive times. she was a slave; in the
age Of Greece and Rome, domestic;
in the era offeudaism the idol of chiy-
alryi to-day, a queen, sharing with man
the whole kingdom Of life. She titled
the soil for the mighty hunters of Nine
veh, embroidered the purple for Atheni-
an philosophers, and charmed by her
beauty and wit the medieval knights.
Among modern nations her mind has
blossomed into immortal thoughts on
tho SUBMITS of authorship.
The intellectual development Of
woman has been slow. Whether or
not she was mans equal at The outset
is question for speculation. BE that
as it may, the customs of society have
always placed barriers in the way Of
her advancement. Caste is the deadli-
est blight of mind. and that blight fell
upon woman with special force. and
remained upon her centuries after it
had been lifted from man. Her duties
constituted routine demanding pa
tience rather than thought. She work
ed in solitude. and never felt the incen =
tive of competition. Her tasks have
been restricted. and the responsible
ties Of the race have rested upon man.
His mind has been trained in the school
of rivalry and great enterprise. War,
commerce, and government have been
his teachers
Custom creates proprieties. 1t
came TO be thought that intellectual
duties would unsex woman, and render
her unfit for the duties of home, and the
doors Of institutions of learning were
accordingly closed against her.
These qualifications of caste and
stra.t-jackets of convent onality We're
to be removed before she could rise 10
her full height. Greece was not only
then mother of poetry and art, but it
was under her benignant freedom that
woman first overcame the obstacles
that had dulled her intellect and crush
ed her aspirations. Here rose the two
stars that illumined her intellectual
night"-Sappho. the lyric poet, and
Aspasia. the woman of thought. As
long as Homer is read, Sappho will be
remembered, and the wisdom of Plato
and statesmansh D Of Pericles are for
ever associated with the name of
Aspasia.
But It was not until all social forms
were stirred by the great awakening
of knowledge in the Fourteenth Cen
fury, when thought and scholarship be-
gan to be dissem mated through all
grades of society and ceased to be limit
ed TO the favored few, that the intellec-
tual development of women as class
began.
The seat Of learning shifted from the
south TO the north, among juster men
and stronger women.
In medieval Europe, testers, hawks,
mingle with men in the feudal castles.
Over the quarters Of beef and hagons
of beer she began her education by
listening to the conversation of men.
The newspaper of that day was con-
versation. and women developed this
power to such perfection that in the
Eighteenth Century, not only poetry
and philosophy but the policy of the
government were discussed and shaped
around the tables of such women as
Madame de Maintenon and Madame
Necker. The kecnness, sense, and in
tuition of these takers overcame the
prejudices against them. and during
the period preceding the French Rcvo-
luton. when all established forms were
giving way before the agitation of new
ideas, woman's mind famed into action.
and she became power in the world
of letters.
Unconsc.ously she formed literature
by her correspondence. She wrote of
politics and social life. As a political
writer, the pen of Madame de Stael
was more terrible to Napoleon than the
sword of any ruler in Europe.
Lady Montaou mirrored the social
life of the age; her letters are gems of
art, bright, informal discussions of
passing events, and have come down to
us a history of the times.
All this brilliant discussion. however,
was only preparatory. Woman's mind
was now ripe for action, and literature
had assumed form in which she was
prominently fitted to excel. 1t for
sock theoretical philosophy and enter
ed the home. The Nineteenth Century
will be known in tcrature as the
century of the novel, and also the
century in which woman began her
work of enduring authorship.
In 1870 Madame de Steal published
her "Corrinne," the greatest novel III
the French language.
Jane Taylor, in her "Thaddeus e
Warsaw" and Scottish Chiefs, f." open.
, ed up an entirely new field Of literaturu